Championship Central |
Final Tournament Bracket
ST. LOUIS – No. 5 seed Lewis University captured the 2021 Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) Men's Basketball Championship crown on Sunday with a 76-71 victory over No. 6 seed Drury University in the Mark Twain Building on the campus of University of Missouri-St. Louis in St. Louis, Missouri.
The Flyers won their third league title and first since 2016 in their eighth championship game appearance, earning the Conference's automatic qualifying bid into the NCAA Division II National Tournament. The newly configured 48-team field will be revealed later this evening at 10:30 p.m. ET on NCAA.com.
Lewis sophomore guard Artese Stapleton was named to the All-Tournament Team and voted Most Valuable Player after tallying a career-high 23 points in the semifinal contest against Indianapolis and a career-high seven assists in the title game against Drury. He was also 6-of-10 from the field with 15 points this afternoon and added four rebounds.
Lewis junior Connor Niego was also named to the five-man team, while Drury University senior guard Conley Garrison and sophomore guard Malek Davis, along with University of Indianapolis sophomore forward Kendrick Tchoua picked up the other spots on the All-Tournament squad.
The Panthers improved upon its 23.33% shooting in the first half with a 64.29% clip in the second to average 43.1%, but the Flyers balanced 48.15% first-half shooting with 53.85% in the second for a 50.9% average. Junior guard/forward Bruno Williams led the Lewis offense with 19 points, while Niego had a 13-13 double-double with points and rebounds. Junior guard/forward Victor Nwagbarachoa paced the Panthers with 19 points in the loss on 7-of-11 shooting.